A Felixstowe man has admitted wounding his wife and sister after celebrating New Year's Eve in the town.

Michael Dawson, 35, of Mill Lane, Felixstowe, denied wounding both women with intent to cause them grievous bodily harm, but Ipswich Crown Court heard that he has admitted a less serious charge of wounding them.

Gareth Hughes, prosecuting told the court how Dawson was nearly three times the drink drive limit when he stabbed his wife Jenny in the neck with a kitchen knife in the bedroom of their home.

Dawson then stabbed Jenny's sister Laura Thrower with another knife after she woke up in another room and had tried to stop him leaving the house with his car keys.

Dawson then drove off in his wife's car but crashed into a row of trees near a roundabout at the junction of Garrison Lane and Candlet Road.

He ran off gave himself up shortly afterwards after a dog unit arrived at the scene but refused to provide police with a breath specimen and allegedly swore at officers.

Mr Dawson said he and his wife had been married for 14 years and it had been a good relationship with no violence.

The court heard that following the attack, Mrs Dawson and her sister were taken to hospital - where Mrs Dawson was found to have a single 0.5cm-wide wound in her neck, above her right collarbone area.

Mrs Thrower had a single 2.5cm-wide wound in her upper abdomen.

Mr Hughes told the court that a blood sample taken from Dawson after his arrest showed he was nearly three times the legal limit for driving.

He said although Dawson was drunk, he had still been able to make decisions such as selecting a knife to stab his wife, going upstairs to the bedroom and stabbing her, deciding to leave the house, picking up his wife's car keys, stabbing Mrs Thrower with a second knife and then making his escape.

The court heard that on the night of the attack, Mrs Dawson and her husband had left Mrs Thrower at their house to babysit while they went out in Felixstowe.

They had ended up at The Grand, where Dawson had been asked to leave at around 1am because he had been flailing his arms around and barging into other customers on the dance floor and the couple got a taxi home. The stabbings then took place at around 2am.

The trial continues today and probably tomorrow.